i paid a bit over 2-grand for a shiny new 396. spent hours and lots
more money learning it and getting it wired to the ships power and
audio mixer.

first time out, on a bright clear day, the thing loses signal. no wx,
no gps but the music plays just fine.

fortunately, since i hang around here and the cessna clubs i sorta knew
there might be a problem.

reboot...problem solved. for about 2 minutes. reboot six times in 30
minutes. fortunately for me i'm in familiar territory, my ship has lots
of old dumb guages and i've got a big lowrance 1000 stuck to the
window.

called garnin and get this: they never even asked my serial number or
any purchase info. just what address do we send the replacement
antenna. they absolutely knew they shipped junk and never told me.
NOT ONE WORD FROM THEM TILL I CALLED.

after reading the nw-pilot experience i'm just getting madder and
madder thinking about these guys.

when i started out flying, i bought a cheap little lowrance
i-finder.designed for hiking. found out it has a nearest airport
feature. works like a charm every time. i've mentioned before that i
thought lowrance must be a front for the russian army cause their stuff
is simple, dead dependable and makes a decent weapon or hammer if
necessary. bought a lowrance 1000 and as i mentioned above, it's
suction cupped to the left side of the front window.

i don't know what the final report on nw-pilot is going to show but, if
garmin is going to be the "aviation standard" they better get busy
talking to their customers and fixing the problems. matter of fact, i
think they should get someone working this board and the "type-clubs"
before they find themselves having lunch with general motors wondering
what happened.

dan



i